This invention relates to chillproofing beverages such as beer. The invention involves the use of a combination of silica gel and magnesium silicate to remove various colloidal components of ruh beer which form haze upon chilling.
The term "beer" as used in this specification and the claims includes many types of brewed beverages. Such beverages include, but are not limited to, lager, pilsner, Dortmund and Munich beers as well as top fermented beverages such as ale, porter and stout.
Turbidity is an important and at times troublesome aspect encountered in brewing operations. It can be of biological and physicochemical origins. Gross turbidity caused by suspended solids substantially above the colloidal range can be overcome by filtering or other separation methods. Various filter aids called fining agents are used to coagulate such coarse particles. Secondary and more subtle turbidity problems involve the haze which develops on aging and/or chilling the previously filtered beer. This haze is caused by the coagulation of a number of organic materials in the beer. These materials are not removed by the previously described filtration step.
A number of methods have been developed to remove at least some of the chill haze formers in beer. Among these methods are reactin with other organic material to product a filtrable precipitate. A number of adsorbents are also used to remove certain fractions that cause chill haze. Silica hydrogels and xerogels, calcium, aluminum and magnesium silicates, diatomaceous earth, several types of natural minerals and clays and mixtures thereof have been suggested and used as chillproofing agents. U.S. Patents that disclose such art include the following: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,163,538; 3,251,693; 3,436,225; 3,617,301; 3,940,498 and 3,958,023. These materials and methods have been successful with some beers but less than satisfactory with other beers.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,508,742 and 4,563,441 teach and claim a combination of about 5% or less of magnesium silicate with silica hydrogel to treat beer. The hydrogel is used to provide chillproofing while the magnesium silicate is present to avert metal, particularly iron, contamination of the beer.